


Getting There

by caz251



Series: reel-torchwood [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Community: reel_torchwood, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caz251/pseuds/caz251
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ianto Jones decided to go to the Winter Olympics in France to see athlete Jack Harkness he should have gone alone, instead he made it a road trip with his friends. See how getting there can be as good as being there. This fic is written for reel_torchwood and is based on the film Getting There written so as to give the story a Torchwood twist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Torchwood or Getting There.

Ianto Cooper-Jones stared around his garden out at his friends, they had all gathered at his house so that they could finalise their plans for the next day. His twin, Gwen Cooper-Jones, was holding court with her best friends Tosh and Rose laughing over something Andy was doing. Owen was in one corner of the garden with Mickey, trying to convince him to do something stupid no doubt. All Mickey really wanted was Rose’s attention, but he didn’t know how to go about getting it, or not the attention that he wanted anyway. He was always the source of derision, mainly because he listened to Owen when the other boy suggested a scheme. The last one had been the previous weekend, they had been enjoying a pool party when Mickey had done his infamous cannonball move, he managed to soak them all, and the food. Ianto knew that he should try more to rein Owen in, but Andy had insisted that they let Mickey deal with Owen himself. His point had been that Owen would only stop tormenting him in the way he did when he learnt to stand up for himself. Picking up the jug of juice Ianto made his way back out into the garden placing it down on the table in front of his sister. Gwen and Rose smiled at him while Toshiko thanked him quietly, despite having been friends with each other for years Tosh was still quiet, even when it was just their small group. A few minutes after Ianto had returned to the garden the others guys all converged on the table, most likely for the fresh juice.

As they all sat around the table Ianto looked around at his friends, this time tomorrow they will have split into two groups, and have started on their journey to the winter Olympics. When he had suggested going to the winter Olympics Owen had immediately suggested a road trip, something that the others had immediately agreed to. Ianto himself wasn’t too keen, he would have preferred to fly straight there, but he agreed to the road trip anyway. He had to admit that it was something that he had always wanted to do, but he would have hoped to have been able to travel with Owen and the guys rather than with his sister. Unfortunately that had been their parent’s restriction on their trip; he and Gwen had to travel together. Their mother had explained that she didn’t want the girls travelling on their own, especially as they wouldn’t be able to fix the car if anything went wrong with it, but Ianto was sure that their parents just wanted him to keep Gwen out of trouble.

It had been agreed that everyone would meet at their house and leave from there, taking their own routes but meeting up at key points in the journey. Ianto was sure that his trip was going to be torture, Toshiko was quiet at times, but even she would join in with Rose and Gwen’s conversation about boys, fashion and makeup. Ianto may have been gay, but makeup was not something he was interested in, and women’s fashion was a far cry from men’s. While he didn’t mind discussing different guys, he really had no wish to know about his sister’s thoughts on the subject.

For the most part Ianto was dreading the journey, but that might be because he just wanted to get to the Olympics. He had tickets for many different events, but he had to be there to get the tickets for the giant slalom, an event he really wanted to see. Ianto’s favourite athlete Jack Harkness was competing in the event and was definitely the favourite to win, and Ianto wanted to be in the crowd watching when he did. It was that one event that he had wanted to go to the Olympics, while he would definitely enjoy the other events; that was the one that he was most looking forward to.

Everyone had headed to bed rather early that evening, mainly so that they would be able to wake early enough to get on the road and start their journey. He had suggested that since they were all there that they should just leave that night, however his parents had vetoed that idea rather quickly, something that he didn’t find that surprising. They had not long gone to bed before they were awake again and Ianto was not looking forward to having to drive. After a large breakfast and an even larger coffee he had felt more alive and was more willing to get behind the wheel of his and Gwen’s shared car. He needn’t have been concerned however as there wasn’t even the opportunity for him to get behind the wheel. 

Once they had gotten out the front door Gwen had thrown her holdall at him to put in the boot with his own, and had then proceeded to get in the driving seat before he even had the chance to protest. Instead of complaining he had gotten into the passenger seat and buckled himself in before his sister could drive off. Toshiko and Rose both climbed into the back of the car, and Ianto’s mother started to run through all her last minute checks, making sure they had money, bank cards and phones. They were also reminded to listen to the chaperones when they got to the lodge, something that Ianto was sure that he heard Owen snort at, but even he promised to be on his best behaviour.

They arranged their first meet up point and said goodbye before both cars driving off, Mickey taking off before Gwen even had the keys in the car. Ianto knew that his sister would be tempted to race the other boys and realised that was probably the reason that he had been made to travel with the girls. He may not have been able to rein Owen in easily, but Gwen was someone that he could handle. His sister, while older than him by five minutes, could be a brat at times, but she always seemed to listen to what he had to say and took his advice to heart.

The drive wasn’t as bad as he would have thought, and the company was actually quite enjoyable. He was sure that Toshiko had spoken to the girls the night before and they had probably agreed that making him uncomfortable would not make for a pleasant journey. They had mostly been talking about the Olympics and how they were all looking forward to hitting the slopes when they got there, well with the exception of Toshiko who had never skied in her life. About half an hour into the journey Ianto’s phone rang; he looked at the caller before answering it, half expecting it to be their parents checking up on them. It wasn’t though. It was Andy on the other end of the call, he wanted to know how if they wanted to meet up a little earlier and get some food.

Ianto snorted, “Andy, we ate less than an hour ago. How can you be stopping for food already?”

He supposed that he should really know the answer to that one though, he had been friends with the other guys for years, they had Mickey in their car. He quickly checked with the girls, but none of them really cared for food at the moment. He spoke with Andy for a few more moments, fielding questions about his sister; he really was beginning to wonder about Andy’s rather unhealthy liking of his sister.

Hanging up he turned to look at Gwen, “What is going on with you two? I know that there is something.” He really didn’t want to know if there was a relationship forming between his sister and his friend, but he also knew that he needed to know. Watching his sister’s facial expression he could tell that the whole conversation that was about to follow was one that was going to be uncomfortable for her, which made him really curious as to what had happened.

“He kissed me.” Gwen admitted, shrugging her shoulders slightly as she continued to drive. Rose sat forward a bit in her seat, and Ianto could tell that she was just as interested to hear the details as he was. “He wanted to define what we were, whether we were friends or more, and I couldn’t.”

Ianto raised his eyebrow at that, Gwen had always been one who could define a relationship in an instant; it was him that was more stunted socially. Gwen shrugged again, and Ianto could tell that this whole situation was weighing on her. “When was this?” Ianto asked.

“Last night.” Gwen said quietly, it was obvious that she had been thinking a lot about what had happened. “He asked what we were, and I said we were friends, but friends. It was lame I know, but it was all that I could come up with. I mean we are friends, and I think that he is an amazing friend, but I also think he is cute and sweet. I like him, he’s a great guy, but I don’t know if I like him.”

Ianto sighed, he couldn’t believe that he was about to ask his sister for more information than he already knew. He had always maintained that he wouldn’t get himself involved in his sister’s love life unless she needed him to beat up some jerk that had hurt her, in which case he would be more than willing to get involved. “When he kissed you, did you kiss back? How did it feel for you?”

“Um, not really, I think I was in some kind of shock or something. I mean, I had no idea that Andy felt anything for me at all, to be honest I thought he was into you.” Gwen told him, shocking Ianto to the core. He had certainly never thought that Andy was gay in any way, and he told Gwen so, listing a few of the people that he knew Andy had dated to prove that he liked women.

Gwen was saved from answering his second question as his phone rang again. He didn’t check the display this time, just answered it in a polite voice, “Hi mam.”

“I’m not your mam, Ianto.” Andy’s voice could be heard through the phone, Owen could be heard snorting in the background, Ianto’s assumption obviously amusing him greatly.

“Andy. What can we do for you this time?” Ianto asked, wondering what the guys wanted now, but knowing that it was probably directions as Owen couldn’t navigate to save himself.

He could hear the nervousness in Andy’s voice as he began to speak and knew that whatever I was that he had to say was not going to be good news. “We’ve had a bit of an accident.” He stated before Tosh cut in asking if they were all okay and where they were. Before long they were at the sight of the so-called accident watching as Mickey’s car was being placed onto a tow truck, the back wheels punctured. They were outside a fast food restaurant and Mickey had been the one who had been driving so the cause of the accident was obvious to Ianto; food. Andy confirmed it; Mickey had driven backwards into the drive in because they hadn’t been given sauce to go with their order.

Ianto was unimpressed to say the least, even more so when Toshiko suggested that they ride with them, Rose quickly agreeing with her. However, neither he nor Gwen were on board with the idea and because it was their car it was their votes that counted. There was no way that seven of them would be getting into their car, if Ianto’s parents found out about it, and they would, they always seemed to know everything, they would go mental. In the end the other boys decided to go back home and just fly to the Olympics, something that Gwen was sorely tempted to do as well. Ianto protested though, the winter Olympics had already started, he wanted to get there before they finished.

Ianto took the wheel then, intending to drive right through until they reached their destination, unfortunately it wasn’t long before the girls insisted on a break so that they could get lunch. Ianto reluctantly agreed to stop, only if it was a quick stop and they were back on the road within half hour. When they left the café twenty-five minutes later it was to find that their car was gone and they were now in the exact same boat as the others, with no car to get them to the Olympics. Ianto supposed that he should be grateful that he still had all his event tickets, and that he had kept them in his messenger bag that he kept on him at all times.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwen Cooper-Jones stared at the morose figure of her brother sitting in one corner of their garden ignoring their friends. She knew that her brother was upset and she also knew that it was partly her fault. If she hadn’t insisted that they make this trip a road trip, they would have flown to the Olympics that morning. They would have most likely spent the afternoon on the slopes and by now be sitting in the lodge in front of a log fire and Ianto would have been able to make the first event he had tickets for the next afternoon. As it was they would not reach their destination until after the first event he had tickets for. She did however have a plan to make sure that he didn’t miss the evening event though; she just had to convince the boys that she was telling the truth.

She smiled at the others as she showed the boys out, “Okay, so we’ll meet at the airport tomorrow for the noon flight. It’s a two stop journey, but it should get us there by evening.” The boys all agreed with her and left and she hoped that she hadn’t been suspicious. Turning to Ianto and the girls she spoke again, “Make sure you are awake for about five. We’re leaving at half past.”

Rose stared at her before asking why they were leaving so early and she then explained her plan, drawing a hint of a smirk from her brother. “The boys will be on the noon flight with two stops, but we will be on an eight o’clock nonstop flight straight there. There were only four standby seats left, so I decided not to tell the boys.”

She could tell that Ianto was rather impressed with her deviousness and the fact that the idea had cheered him up meant that she didn’t really mind that she had to be up at the crack of dawn for the second day in a row. Everything seemed to be going well until they reached the airport and ran into a few unexpected faces.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, looking at Andy, knowing that he would be the weak link that would crack. She may not be sure about what they really were to each other or what she wanted them to be, but she was sure that Andy would tell her what they were doing. 

“We,” He began ignoring the glares from Owen. “We wanted to get an earlier flight, but there were only four seats left.”

Gwen glared at him and noticed Ianto doing the same, Andy seemed to cower under their glares and he continued. “We just didn’t want to spend all day in airports when we could be on the slopes. It was Owen’s idea.”

Owen was shaking his head at that, trying to minimise his involvement, but the others sold him out. “Yeah, we wanted to tell you Ianto.” Mickey stated, “The four of us could have gone together, but Owen said that you wouldn’t leave Gwen and the girls.”

Gwen and the others glared at them, hoping that they wouldn’t ask why they themselves were there. Unfortunately, Owen seemed to cotton on to the fact that they shouldn’t be there either. They tried to distract them, but they were soon racing towards the ticket desk. Ianto had picked her up and through her over his shoulder running with her, knowing that she was not as adept at Gwen or Rose at running in heeled shoes. They reached the counter at the same time, both her and Owen yelling to the woman behind the desk what it was they wanted; unfortunately the four standby seats had already been sold. Gwen glared at Owen, this was all his fault she was sure that they would have got those tickets if they hadn’t had to take time confronting Owen and the guys for their underhand ways. 

“We can all still get the two stop at noon.” Andy spoke up, catching the attention of the rest of the group and gaining glares from most of them.

“We’ll get our own tickets and see you on the slopes.” Rose countered, looking at the boys with disdain and throwing Tosh a dirty look when she protested. “They have been nothing but a problem to us anyway. This way we don’t have to deal with their problems.”

Gwen looked at her brother who also seemed to agree with Rose’s statements so she agreed, at least this way there would be a few more hours before she had to face Andy again. They separated in the airport and Gwen decided that she had to do something to get them to the Olympics as soon as they could. She really wanted her brother to reach the lodge with time to at least get to the evening event he had tickets for. She made her way to one of the desks and worked out a route that would get them there an hour earlier than the flight the boys would be on.

Arriving at their first stop point, they were disheartened to hear that they would not be able to get their next planned flight due to the bad weather, and that there were no flights taking off from the airport at all. In the end they ended up taking a taxi back home for the night, a taxi that cost them a good couple of hundred pounds. It turned out that the boys had been just as unsuccessful as they had, they had also taken an alternative flight in the hopes of getting to the lodge as early as possible, and they too had been grounded by bad weather. Unlike them though, they hadn’t opted for a taxi back home, instead they hitched a lift with a group of farmers and had to do some manual labour in return for the lift.

Sitting at her dining room table she looked around at her group of friends, knowing that they felt as exhausted and disillusioned with the trip as she did. To be honest, she wasn’t sure that they would ever get to the lodge; something that she knew would disappoint Ianto greatly. They sat at the table trying to work out how to get there, her parents throwing a suggestion or two in every now and then, however none of them were really feasible. Just when she was about to give up entirely Ianto appeared in the room a small smile on his face.

“It’s sorted.” He spoke, “We’ll take the bus part of the way, and then fly the rest of it. The bus will take us to London; then we’ll fly from Heathrow to France. Our tickets are booked for both the bus and flights, and nothing is allowed to go wrong this time.”  
Gwen just nodded, not daring to disagree with Ianto; the mood he was in at the moment would mean that it would not end well if he lost his temper. It was for that reason that she was up at the crack of dawn for the third day in a row, the journey would only take just over three hours by bus to London, but they had a connecting flight to catch.

She ended up sitting next to Andy on the bus and was quick to slip back into sleep, mainly so that they didn’t have to discuss were their friendship was going, but also partly to catch up on all the sleep she had missed with their early starts. Rose and Mickey were also at the back of the bus with them, while Ianto, Owen and Toshiko sat near the doors at the front of the bus. When the bus stopped in London Gwen started awake, shaking her companions before heading to the front of the bus. However, neither her brother nor their other friends were there. 

Getting off the bus she began to panic, they had collected their own bags and those of their absent companions and made their way to a coffee shop to work out what they were going to do. Gwen had wanted to phone their parents, but Andy had talked her out of it, telling her that it was likely that if they heard of another screw up that the whole trip would be cancelled and they would all be forced to return home. It was obvious to all of them that they were not going to make their flight, not with Ianto and the others anyway. They could have taken the flight, but it would mean having to rearrange to get a copy of their boarding passes as Ianto had them in his messenger bag.

She had been trying to contact her brother from the time that they got to the coffee shop; it took until lunch time to get through to him, by which time she had passed the panicking stage. Ianto as usual managed to calm her down and insisted that he had a solution and that they should meet them at Heathrow, even though they had already missed their flight. Gwen felt much better once she had spoken with her brother and couldn’t help but be rather curious about what her brother had in mind. She grabbed her and Ianto’s bags, indicating that the others should grab the other bags and they made their way to the nearest tube station, taking the tube out to Heathrow. Of all the things that she had expected it wasn’t for her brother and their friends to turn up in a private jet with a loud and seemingly brash red head.


	3. Chapter 3

The journey to London wasn’t as arduous as Ianto had expected, he sat with Owen, Toshiko sat behind them, her head often appearing between their seats as she tried to impress Owen with some piece of knowledge or other that she possessed. Ianto spent a good part of the trip reading a sports magazine that was covering some of the athletes that were competing in the Olympics; with an interview with his favourite, Jack Harkness. He placed the magazine back into his bag just before they reached Bristol and made his way to the back of the bus to find out if the others were getting off the bus for food or a bathroom break. What he found however was that the four of them sound asleep, he shrugged lightly before making his way back to the front of the bus.

“They are asleep, it’s just us three.” Ianto told Owen and Toshiko and they made their way to get something to eat. It wasn’t a long stop by any stretch of the imagination; they grabbed a sandwich each and took it back to eat on the bus with them, promptly falling asleep afterwards for the rest of the journey. Waking up as the bus stopped it was to find that they weren’t actually in London, they had gotten on the wrong bus in Bristol, and they were now in Exmouth, not far from Exeter.

At first he was unable to get in touch with Gwen, his phone playing up, so he decided to wait before trying to contact her, knowing that she too was probably trying to contact him. He had made his way into a small café that was opposite the bus stop, Owen and Toshiko behind him. There were not many people their age in the café, two at most, the majority of the patrons being over the age of sixty. That didn’t stop them from entering though, Ianto took a seat at a table next to a girl around his age while Owen and Toshiko went to the counter to order some drinks.

“I’ve not seen you around here before.” The redhead at the next table stated, obviously trying to get him into a conversation.   
Deciding that he couldn’t see the harm in speaking to her he replied. “Yeah, we just arrived.”

“Why?” She asked, looking at him enquiringly as she picked up her drink and sat next to him at the table. “What have you come here for? For the beach?”

Ianto shook his head. “We didn’t mean to come here. We were trying to get to London; we got on the wrong bus in Bristol.” He let out a sigh, “People do it every day you know, cars, planes, buses. They go from A to B easily, yet we can’t even get from Cardiff to London. I just wanted to go to the Olympics you know, a trip I would have taken on my own, but no, my sister and friends wanted to come with me, to make it a road trip. I just had to end up with a group of friends that can’t do anything right, one car got spiked, another got stolen, we got grounded by the weather, took a couple of hundred pound taxi trip, did manual labour, got on the wrong bus, oh and I have lost my sister.”

The redhead looked at him, a strange expression on her face before she hugged him. “I’m Donna. That was probably the worst story I’ve ever heard. I’ll take you to London.”

Ianto was sure that he looked stunned at the offer, but he wasn’t going to decline if the girl wanted to drive them. “I’m Ianto, thank you. This is Owen and Toshiko.” He introduced as the other two came back with a few bottles of coke. “Guys, this is Donna, she’s going to give us a lift.”

They left the café within ten minutes and Donna led them to a canary yellow roadster that she stroked while looking at them for approval, “This is Bessie, she was my father’s. She’ll take us to London. I’ll just need to nip home to say where I’ll be.”

They agreed, although Ianto was sure that Owen wanted to comment on the state of the car, it wasn’t the newest of cars, it had obviously been Donna’s fathers when he was probably her age, but it looked well cared for. Ianto sat up front with Donna, Owen and Toshiko taking the back seat.

“So, where in London is it you are going to? Do you have a hotel?” Donna asked.

Ianto shook his head. “We’re headed to Heathrow to get a flight to France.”

“France.” Donna questioned, “My father can have you taken straight to France.”

At this Owen did snort, “I’m going nowhere by sailboat.”

Donna turned to look at him a strange look on her face, “I wasn’t going to recommend sailing, the weather is going to be dreadful, but I’m sure we could take the yacht if you really want, but I was going to suggest the plane.”

That shut Owen up and Ianto turned to look at Donna to see if she was completely serious, and her face certainly showed that she was. “Are you serious?” Ianto questioned.

“As a heart attack.” Donna replied. “I’ll just need to clear it with my father and get him to get us landing clearance. With his connections, it shouldn’t be a problem though. So flying to France, via London to pick up your sister?” She questioned.

They made it to Donna’s house for just before lunch time and they were shown into a large dining room while Donna spoke with her father. They entered the room and the plans for the flight were just finalised when Ianto’s phone rang. On the other end of the call was a frantic Gwen, he excused himself from the dining room and began the arduous task of calming his elder sister. He then informed her of the plans that had been made, or rather the bare necessities, deciding that it might be nice to shock her for a change. Really, all he told her was that she and their friends should start making their way to Heathrow and that they would meet them there. 

Turning up at Heathrow in a private plane was something that definitely startled Gwen and Ianto just smirked at Donna as she took in Gwen’s reaction. He and Donna had talked a bit on the journey and he had explained how Gwen never seemed to be shocked by anything he did or said. Donna had laughed at the time and commented that this time was probably going to be completely different; she had been right.

Once they were all back in the plane Ianto made introductions and was surprised when Gwen hugged Donna, whispering something to her as she did so. He had no idea what she said, but it was probably something to do with reuniting them. Within minutes Donna and Gwen were chatting as if they were old friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while, something that he would never have expected. Gwen usually took a while to warm up to someone, but with Donna she was exhibiting none of her normal frostiness that came with new people. He supposed that Donna really had earned herself a place in Gwen’s affections with her actions.

Landing in France they had made their way from the airport straight to the Lodge, without any mishaps whatsoever, and Donna had been granted Guardian Angel status, as she was the only difference from their other transport attempts. Donna’s father had tried to get a room for her at the Lodge, but with the Olympics everything had been booked for months, so it had been arranged that she could stay with one of the girls. When this was mentioned, Gwen immediately offered the girl space in her room.

They all had an early dinner together at the lodge before Ianto made his excuses and left to watch the downhill event that he had tickets for. There was no-one that he was particularly rooting for in the event, but the event itself was something that he enjoyed. He then after it was finished went off in search of tickets or at least a ticket for the Giant Slalom, but was unsuccessful, something that disappointed him, but he still had tickets for one event tomorrow and the Giant Slalom was bound to be being played on every television set in the area.


	4. Chapter 4

The lodge was brilliant, and it was a far cry from the weather of Wales, it may have been snowy outside and a bit cold, but Wales and Cardiff in particular was for the most part wet. Gwen could get used to this very easily, the company and the amenities of the lodge were great, and she was sure that the slopes would be just as fun tomorrow when they hit them. So they hadn’t arrived in time for Ianto to get to all the events that he had tickets for and he hadn’t been able to get tickets for the Giant Slalom, but they had watched it in the lodge earlier that day. It appeared that Jack Harkness had had as much luck as they had in getting there, he hadn’t won the event, having gone into a barricade at the last turn, but he had certainly tried.

Ianto had been upset for him, but they had decided to cheer him up. Since Ianto had missed the majority of the events he had tickets for they decided to hold their own Olympics, with the first event being the cannonball games. Bets had been placed and everyone had lined up in the water and were waiting to take their turn. Mickey, who had won every other cannonball games they had before, was favourite, but they hadn’t expected such a fine performance from the new girl, but Donna had stolen the show right from under his nose, with a huge amount of water displacement and with a depth of grace and skill that Mickey had never shown before.

It was during this event that Toshiko turned up, having begged off their activities for the day in favour of some business she had to take care of. They had all expected that she had been sat in a coffee shop somewhere with a decent Wi-Fi signal, but when she appeared with her ankle in plaster and walking with crutches they were proven wrong. It had turned out that she had gone skiing despite having never skied before, hoping that if she was good enough she could maybe go skiing with Owen. Instead she had managed to break her ankle in two places and would be on crutches for the rest of their trip and most likely a good couple of weeks once they home as well.

They had left the pool shortly after Toshiko arrived, mainly because she couldn’t join them, but also due to the fact that Mickey was getting hungry. There next event had been an eating competition, something that Mickey did win hands down. They were now all sat in front of the fires in the main lounge of the lodge drinking hot apple cider, sharing stories and teaching Donna how to make smores. They all ended up going to bed happy that evening and a little bit tipsy, and Gwen had finally made a decision about what to do about the Andy situation after sitting up half the night talking with Donna, now all she had to do was tell him that she could only be his friend.

They had made plans that evening before heading to bed, starting with a long lie to rest after all the upheavals of the last couple of days. After that they would meet for a late breakfast early lunch before hitting the slopes for a few hours, time in which Toshiko would spend either watching them or working on whatever technological project she was playing about with currently. They had plans to meet with their chaperones for dinner, mainly so that their chaperones had something to report back to her parents about their behaviour.

Waking up Gwen showered and got ready and made her way downstairs alone, Donna having already left. Arriving downstairs the group was not arranged how she had expected. Rose and Mickey were sat at a corner table, and it looked like Mickey was actually using cutlery properly for a change, instead of wielding his knife like a sword or spearing his food with it. Donna and Toshiko were sat with Andy and Owen and Owen seemed to be doting on Tosh and checking she was alright. In the few minutes she had been at the table she had heard him ask her a few times if she was okay, if she needed anything, and telling her to tell Doctor Owen if she did. She supposed he was intending to train to be a Doctor in the future and Tosh was probably his first patient of sorts, it could also be that he felt guilty that she had been hurt trying to impress him.

They had a nice breakfast and Owen informed her that Ianto had already left to hit the slopes when Gwen questioned his absence. To be honest, she wasn’t surprised at that at all, Ianto almost lived for the slopes. She smiled and ate before they all returned to their rooms to get their skis and snowboards. She walked out of the lodge with her skis over her shoulder and Andy at her side, she turned to look at him and saw the dopey grin on his face.

“This is great, slopes, snow and snuggle buddies.” Andy spoke as he hugged her to his side.

Gwen looked at him with a wan smile, “Andy, I think we should just stay as friends. I like you, but as a friend. I’m just not feeling anything more.”

She could tell that Andy was upset, but that he wasn’t going to let it get him down. He appeared to be trying to shrug her words off, and he smiled at her, nodding and telling her it was okay. She just hoped that it was, Andy was a great friend and she didn’t want things to be odd between them. The separated when they got towards the slopes, the girls heading off in one direction with their skis and the guys heading off in the opposite direction with their snowboards.

They had spent a good couple of hours on the slopes before taking a break for some drinks, their skis propped against the wooden fencing as they sat out on the porch of a small café. They had been there only a few minutes before a familiar outfit caught Gwen’s eye, she looked more closely, taking note of the man that her brother was talking to before calling out.

“Yan. Come and join us for a bit.” She yelled across the snow, catching both her brother’s attention and the man that he was talking to.

Ianto turned to them and smiled as they all waved at him, “Your friend is more than welcome to join us.” Donna called.

The man with Ianto murmured something to him and smile at them before apologising that he had a prior engagement and walking off. Ianto came and sat with them, ordering a cool drink and some food.

“He was lush.” Gwen commented, studying her brother to see his reaction to her comment, and just as she expected his cheeks began to colour a bit.

“Yes, but I never saw his face. He kept his ski mask on the whole time, but he was a great conversationalist and an even better skier.” Ianto replied.

Gwen smiled slightly; her brother seemed to be developing a bit of a crush, not something that happened often. “So what did he say to you before he left? Did you get a number?”

Ianto chuckled at her questions, and Gwen could tell that while he would answer he was merely humouring her and not telling her because he wanted to. 

“He was asking me to meet with him tomorrow, and no, I didn’t get his number, I didn’t even get his name.” Ianto commented before going quiet. They didn’t talk much after that, just finished their short break before once more hitting the slopes.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack Harkness was not having a good few days, his trip to France hadn’t gone exactly to plan, and he would not be taking home the medal he had expected to. Luckily however he hadn’t hurt himself when he had taken his tumble into the barricade. The only thing the tumble had done was make him more dedicated to perfecting his performance for future events, as well as learning to enjoy the sport as he had done before. In the last few years he had noticed that he had become too focused, while he was just as determined to succeed, if not more so, he also realised that he needed to make sure he took the time to remember his love for his sport.

Upon waking that morning he had decided to hit the slopes just for fun, hopefully find someone to ski with, someone who wouldn’t take one look at him and go mental that they were skiing with Jack Harkness. For the rest of his time here he just wanted to be a normal guy, he was only twenty and he had been training for this set of Olympics since he was seventeen. He just wanted to have a bit of fun for a while before he was to start training for the next Olympics in four years’ time.

He had made his way out to the slopes, towards the lift that would take him to the top of the run, taking note of all the people out that morning. There weren’t that many people out at that time of the morning, but the majority of them were couples. He saw a solitary figure standing in the queue for the ski lift, a lithe figure that could only belong to a young man. Jack made his way to the figure, stopping beside him; the other man was definitely younger than him, but not by much.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Jack asked, hoping that the other man would like some company. He relished the chance to just act like a normal person for a while and enjoy the company of someone who didn’t know him.

“Not at all.” The reply came in an accented voice, the words and sounds like music to Jack’s ears, his companion was Welsh. 

They rode the lift to the top of the run, talking about their own experiences of the sport and different ski lodges they had visited. Jack had to admit that the young man seemed to be quite well skied in terms of travel around different slopes. He was even more impressed when they hit the slopes, the guy could hold his own against him. Jack wasn’t conceited, but he knew that he was one of the best skiers for his age. They spent the morning together on the slopes, before taking a short break around lunchtime.  
He had just been about to invite him to lunch with him when someone calling out towards them caught his attention.

“Yan. Come and join us for a bit.” A girl yelled across the snow. His companion turned to the group of girls sat at a table and smiled as they all waved at him. 

“Your friend is more than welcome to join us.” Jack heard one of the girls call, and wondered how to get away. He also couldn’t help but wonder who the girls were and how they knew his companion.

The young man turned to him and asked if he wanted to join them, but he declined, insisting that he had plans, but asking the other to meet him the next morning on the slopes again. It wasn’t until he was back in his suite that he realised that he had never given his name or received the other mans. All he really had to go on with a name was what that girl had called him, Yan.

The next morning he awoke early, making sure that he looked good before leaving for the slopes, hoping that Yan had turned up. He was grateful to note when he reached the ski lift that he had, and that he was stood waiting for him. Reaching the younger man Jack decided to go with his instincts, kissing the man on the cheek and smiling brilliantly at him. 

“Hi. I’m glad you made it.” Jack spoke, “I realised I hadn’t introduced myself yesterday, I’m Jack.”

The younger man blushed, “I’m Ianto.”

“Ianto.” He tried out the name on his tongue. “Ianto, not Yan.”

Ianto chuckled, “Only my sister gets away with calling me that, mainly because I can’t get her to stop.”

Jack smiled, that answered the question about who the girl who was so familiar with him was. He supposed that the other girls were their friends, and he was rather relieved that the girl was his sister rather than his girlfriend. He had been sure that he was getting those vibes from the other guy, and would have been disappointed to find out that he was wrong. Deciding not to stand about much longer he gestured Ianto towards the ski lift, and they were once more on their way to the top of the run.

This time the trip to the top of the run was a lot more relaxed and friendly, they weren’t complete strangers anymore. This time instead of speaking solely of skiing they spoke about themselves, getting to know each other a bit better. Just before they lift the lift Jack asked the question that he wasn’t sure he would find the courage to ask. “Will you have dinner with me this evening?”

Skiing down the hill he heard Ianto yelling to him, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

Jack chuckled to himself, “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” Ianto called back.

They skied for a few hours before separating for the afternoon. Jack had enjoyed the morning and was sure to enjoy dinner just as much. He didn’t think that Ianto knew exactly who he was, or he hadn’t realised who he was exactly, but he knew that he would have to tell him. If he didn’t dinner would probably be a bit of a shock for him, it wasn’t like he could wear his ski mask in a restaurant. He just hoped that Ianto didn’t become star struck when he revealed who he was; this was his attempt to be normal for a while. 

Ianto seemed to take who he really was in stride, all though he did tell him how much he admired him for his skiing skill, but that was something he had also told him before he revealed who he was. They spent dinner talking about who they were, where they were from and what they wanted from their futures. It was the strangest first date Jack had ever been on, mainly because he felt completely comfortable. Normally he felt weird on a first date, trying too hard or not knowing what to say, but he had no such worries on this date, the conversation between them just flowed so easily. 

Ianto, he discovered, was here with his sister and their friends for another ten days. Jack immediately decided to extend his stay, having been scheduled to leave at the end of the week to go back home. The next few days he spent his mornings skiing with Ianto and was often found in his company in the afternoons as well, spending time with Ianto’s friends as well. He was glad to find that they didn’t treat him any differently because of who he was, although he was pretty sure that the vetting he got from Gwen wouldn’t have been as smooth as it was if he wasn’t who he was.

When Jack left France at the end of his trip he had something more important than the gold medal that he expected to go home with. The trip had ended up being completely different from what he expected, but he wouldn’t change the trip for the world. So he didn’t get gold, but he did form some relationships that meant more to him than a piece of metal and recognition. With Ianto and their group of friends, because they were his friends they had accepted him into their group easily, he had something that he hadn’t had for years; a sense of normality.

Separating at the airport they had gone off in different directions, the majority of them back to Cardiff, Donna back to Exmouth and he himself back to Glasgow. He was armed though with a multitude of phone numbers and email addresses, and he had been threatened with violence if he lost touch with them. Gwen’s single punch to his arm had informed him that she would have no problem complying with her threat if she thought it necessary.

It wouldn’t be though, he would definitely be keeping in touch with them all, and plans had already been arranged for them all to meet up in Cardiff in a few months’ time. As he sat on his seat on the plane he raised his fingers to his lips, lips that must have been swollen, they were still tingling from Ianto’s good bye. He had four years now to prepare before the next Olympics, but he also had a new philosophy on winning. While he had thought of nothing but the destination before, being the winner of the gold medal, he now had a new appreciation for the journey. His journey to the next Olympics was one he hoped Ianto would take with him, and as such winning wasn’t the destination, but rather getting there.


End file.
